La Ferme de Cocherel Pacy-sur-Eure

I left the hotel after breakfast and drove 15 km north to Crécy (en Ponthieu) the site of the battle of 1346 that bears that name. An observation tower has been constructed just outside the town on the site of the windmill at the top of the hill from where the King Edward III of England directed his army in a defensive position. He had come to France with his army to press his claim to the French throne. The King of France, refused his claim of course, and marched to meet ...

... nearly every bite of it. We also were given wine and coffee and of course dessert! My dessert is a little hard to explain, it was kind of like a mousse/ice cream with nuts and a raspberry sauce drizzled around...so good. After lunch we toured the gardens and the studio of the 'hotel'.

Before departing we met up with a woman who works for the museum and gardens in Giverny who invited us on a guided tour of some of the other private gardens of the institution that takes care ...

Hello again everyone!

Its time for a little update! Its been hard to find time to write inbetween all the sightseeing, napping aand meals of cheese and baguettes! I gotta say me and Chris have been sleeping a helluva lot but what else is there to do after a long day of walking then to take a nice nap before a delicious supper and dessert! We are definatly getting used to the way things work around here. Supper has been earliest 830pm and ...

... and an early night. Today we got up and went into central Paris to see some things that we had missed before. First we stopped at the Fragonards Perfumerie and both Britt and I bought some fantistic eau de toilette's. Next we walked down to the Musee de l'Orangerie... but not before stopping at the Godiva Chocolaterie to get a milk chocolate drink that was absolute heaven... anyways... the Musee de l'Orangerie, to be honest, didnt interest me that ...

The next day I got up bright and early to make sure that all my bags were packed and ready to go, check out of the hotel and grab some breakfast. After eatting my pain au chocolat and finishing up my grande creme (or cafe au lait) at one of the many Paul bounlongeries in France (this particular one was located inside the mall next door to my hotel) I grabbed my things and took the metro to get off at the stop to meet with my old Parisian friend ...

After my hour break, I left the hotel and looked for the Gallieni metro stop. At first I had trouble, but it's not hard to find....if you eventually end up staying in a hotel in Gallieni, if you're facing the Mr. Big City Lots hotel, just start walking straight on your left and go past the little indoor mall and head to a covered area where you see some public bus stops and a sign for the Eurolines bus station....the metro stop is right behind there, and this stop is ...

... fog unveiled a stunning Mont St. Michel - an ominous medieval castle built by the monks in 708, built out of granite on this HUGE piece of land, with the ocean surrounding its beauty. As we approached we noticed a small, meandering river which separates France from Brittany. The tides in this area rarely fill the bay any longer except during large storms so our access was quite easy. The parking lot was absolutely teaming with thousands of tourists and the buses were ...

... packed on the tripods and took a cheap taxi to the Eiffel Tower for twilight, planning to get to the top and back down in time for the great sunset view. This did not happen! We stood waiting in line for 1 hour and saw at least another hour wait before getting on the lift to the top. We made the decision to bail our of the line and concentrate on the Eiffel tower from the ground level. We were entertained during our wait by a band of ...

... they are charging two euros for a candle while I distinctly remember in St Ettiene they were only 1.50. With a tick in the box for culture (puting aside my true reflections within the Sacre Cour) we moved on to Arts and wandered arond the artists square of Montmarte. We were going at diffeent paces yet we both saw seperately and came back to this one painting that upon reflection ...

... By the time I reached Sacre Coeur, it had closed, but I did get to see the outside and check out the view from up there (along with several hundred other tourists that must have come up there another way - the walk up there was practically deserted until I came around a corner at the top and there were hundreds of people). When I got back to my hostel, I met some more backpackers: Dave from Connecticut, Aaron from Ottawa ...